A Peak through the History of America

1. A Peak through the History of America

2. Fighting To Keep A Culture Alive • There are two Arizona State laws that are trying to be passed. These laws are SB1070 which would make it mandatory for police officials to stop and check immigrant status. The second law is HB2281 which outlaws the teachings of Chicano studies in the class room. • Students are fighting back to keep the Chicano studies alive in the classrooms. It is a huge part of their culture and they have the right to fight for their culture • Dr. Rudy Acuna a professor at California State University Northridge praises the of the University for fighting to keep the teachings of Chicano studies in the classrooms • Chicano studies have been taught at CSUN since 1969

3. A Different View of our U.S History • Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is a different view of our U.S history. It is through the eyes of these people who were never recognized in the U.S History textbooks. • In the textbooks we view Columbus as a Hero when really many suffered from the Columbus’s “findings” of America. • Before Columbus discovered America there were Indians living on these lands • Indians were treated as slaves and many committed suicide because they could no longer handle the oppression • Colonist could no longer enslave Indians so they decided to enslave blacks • “Drawing the color line” was the line that was built between whites and blacks.

4. “Tyranny is Tyranny” • Colonist had been separated from rich and the poor. You were either extremely rich or extremely poor, there was no in between. • The wealthy had three fears from the poor • Slave Revolts • Growing class anger of poor white equality • Indian Hostile • Rich colonist wanted to mirror British rule. They wanted full control over the people but that wasn’t going to happen. • The Bacon’s Rebellion was the start of the concern that the wealthy had over the poor. “The war had brought glory for the generals, death to the privates, wealth for the merchants, unemployment for the poor (Zinn pg 59).”

5. Double Oppression • Black slaves had it hard enough as it was living in a society full of racism, let alone the trouble that female black slaves had • Black women had to deal with the oppression of not only being a slave but also the oppression of being a women. • Women and Men were working the same jobs but yet Men were making way more than the women were • To this day women continue to strive to work hard and fight oppression. “They were poorly paid and often treated rudely and harshly, deprived of good food and privacy. Of course these terrible conditions provoked resistance (Zinn pg 104).”

6. Indian and Mexican Takeover • The Americas was growing rapidly. All they needed was more land so they began to took over Mexican and Indian land. • The Indian and Mexican had three similarities • They went about their attack in a violent mannor • They wanted to expand and gain more land • They defended themselves against the Americans Despite their efforts and rigourious battles being fought the Americas took over the Indian and Mexican Land. Although this could be looked at as a negative aspect of our American History it was a great defeat and has made this great land we call America.

7. Slavery without submission, Emancipation without Freedom • Zinn discussed surrounding events before and after the civil war. • Female black slaves had to remain tough and strong during the war in order to support their husbands who were fighting for their country. • Even though blacks were now free from being slaves they still experienced racism. • Black worked just as hard as white were but they were still getting paid way less than white and worked twice as hard • Black continued there struggle with racism from the Ku Klux Klan who targeted black and their families

8. Government Reform • Howard Zinn and Ray Gijalva had very similar views on government reform • They both believed that a reform should be taken place in the following areas • 1. Economic Growth • 2.Financial Aid • 3. Equal opportunities for education • 4. Labor Laws • 5. Civil Rights They both agreed for a necessary government reform, they wanted glorification of the making of the U.S need to improve developing American society. With that being said I believe that is the purpose of this course. We are constantly growing and changing as a society and we should continue to change with it.

9. Reference Page • Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.